


Werewolf Pack Structure and Physiology

by KageSora



Series: Original Works/Meta About Original Works [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Meta, Werewolves, bc what is a werewolf story but fanfic about a legend/myth/folk tale/cryptid??, but i realized it kind of counts sort of as meta/fanfic about werewolves in general, this is basically meta about how werewolves work in a fictional world of my own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KageSora/pseuds/KageSora
Summary: A look at pack structure and some physiology--including what, biologically, separates werewolves from shapeshifters that can assume a wolf form--as featured in one of my original worlds.
Series: Original Works/Meta About Original Works [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702396
Kudos: 4





	Werewolf Pack Structure and Physiology

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written in October of 2017, so some of it's outdated as far as my own worldbuilding goes, but I realized that this might be worth tossing up here because what is anything involving werewolves but fanfic of myth/legend/folk tale/cryptid?
> 
> This presented in the original form, so there are references to packs and characters that only a handful of people might recognize if they also follow me on Tumblr and pay attention to my ramblings about worldbuilding and characters, but they're not important to this in general and also I'm too lazy to edit this.

**10.22.17**

All packs have an Alpha. The Alpha can be any sex and/or gender and/or sexuality, it’s just the title awarded to the current leader of the Pack. Despite taking terminology from outdated ideas on wolf pack hierarchy, the method of selecting an Alpha is much more democratic in a lot of the modern world.

In the past an Alpha was more often selected for physical strength and combat ability, since they needed to protect their Pack from quite a few threats.

Nowadays werewolves are much more understood and accepted, and properly recognized as not having lost their personhood with the Change. As such, qualities that make a good Alpha vary quite a bit by the needs of an individual Pack.

Alphas are elected by the Pack, and if they no longer are able to fulfill the needs of the Pack as an Alpha they can step down. If they refuse to a vote of no confidence can be cast and they can be kicked from the position–usually by kicking them out of the Pack. An Alpha who won’t step down when they realize they’re not the best suited to lead the Pack in their current situation ins’t an Alpha worth following because they clearly don’t have the best interests of the Pack at heart.

Typically that’s fairly rare these days.

Now, as Pack needs can be so varied, some packs also have a Beta, who’s the second in command. Rarer still are those who have a Gamma. And even rarer are those that have a Delta. Typically a Gamma and a Delta would be for very, very large Packs. Often arising when two or more Packs join together. It can be a temporary thing or it can be a merging of the Packs into one large one.

Most Packs are seven to ten members strong, sometimes with a few loners who hang out on the fringes.

A Pack isn’t required for a werewolf, but most like having a group of friends or a family of those like themselves to help them and to be with. Loners are those who are Packless but who tend to hang out with a Pack from time to time. So, kinda like somebody who sometimes joins in with a group thing, but doesn’t really hang out with anybody from the group outside the occasional activity. They’re not treated or respected less for it, it’s understood that some people just don’t _need_ a Pack that way and that’s normal and natural.

Some werewolves have informal Packs made up of others who they’re close to even of they’re not all werewolves.

A Pack will stake out territory for their own, for various reasons. Mostly it’s just “hey, this is the area we typically end up hanging out in”. New Moon and Full Moon are the two Packs that live in the area with Blake, and they both have roughly half the town claimed each, since they’re made up of people who live on those sides.

In some cases a territory clash will occur, which can range anywhere from “We will seek a civil settlement to this dispute” to “all out gang war”. It really varies depending on the context of the territory clash, the Packs involved, where they’re at, etc. Fighting tends to occur less in urban areas and more in rural areas where the Packs will spend more time in wolf form and will actively use their territory to hunt.

Full Moon and New Moon clash from time to time, but it’s usually a friendly rivalry settled with a contest or something. They actually have an overlapping section of the middle of town that’s considered both Packs’ territory. Such things tend to be more common in urban and suburban areas. Sometimes there are multiple Packs that share a territory even if they’re not a single Pack. This tends to be most common in densely populated urban areas.

Packs tend to be very close, though for different reasons in the modern era than in the past.

In the past, typically a Pack was close because they faced the same dangers and persecutions, were Othered by non-werewolves and hunted down.

In the modern times it’s because how werewolves come about is much different.

A werewolf is still created when a human is bitten by a werewolf–nobody’s quite sure where the first werewolf came from, though. Some legends say that it was a wolf that was cursed or a man that was cursed, some say it was a demon’s influence, some say that it was a failed attempt at magically healing an infectious disease (modern scholars think the possible disease from this legend was rabies).

Whatever the case, the bite is the key–it’s often referred to as an “infection” though it’s more like a sort of venom. It’s a compound released by the act of the bite, rather than something in the saliva itself (which is how werewolves are able to lick open wounds on non-werewolves without transmitting it to them). It’s actually a fascinating study, because it’s more than strictly the bite itself–which is how people can be bitten by a werewolf that was defending itself and not turn.

The act of the bite with the intent to transmit it releases a chemical compound from glands within the skull above the roof of the mouth, through a small groove in the backs of the eye teeth. This compound may enter the bloodstream directly via the bite, or may be the result of an open wound coming into contact with saliva that has the compound mixed into it. So if the first bite misses that doesn’t necessarily mean you wouldn’t be able to be infected–it’s not like a snake where the venom is pumped into the bite wound at the time of the bite.

There’s quite a bit of study on the reasoning for wanting to Turn another in the past, it’s an entire branch of history on it’s own.

In the modern day, typically it’s done because a person wants to become a werewolf. The Bite is given in a sterile, safe environment and has quite a bit of ceremony around it usually.

Less frequently it may occur because it’s the only way to save a life. There’s support groups for people who’ve become Other as a result of something like this (more often it’s a case of a Vampire who Turned somebody who was wounded unto death in a late-night accident as a last resort to keep them “alive”).

Sometimes it’s unintentional as a result of illness that impairs judgement.

The rarest are those who maliciously bite others to infect them. These are detested by most modern werewolves and finding out somebody is doing this is grounds for immediate expulsion from the Pack and being turned over to authorities.

Werewolves in this world aren’t forced into a change at the full moon, they can change between fully human, fully wolf, and a hybrid form at will. In any of the three forms they can Turn another.

The initial transition from Human to Werewolf is the most unpleasant since you have new organs growing where they don’t belong in a human, senses shifting, body mass changing typically towards more muscular, etc. Most common are headaches and jaw pain, sometimes excruciatingly so. It begins within an hour of the infection, and can last anywhere from a few days to three weeks. Between seven to ten days is the most common (a well-known running joke compares it to the average size of a Pack).

In modern times they usually have medical attention to ease the worst of the discomfort.

The defining aspect that sets Werewolves apart from Shifters is the way they’re created. Werewolves _must_ be created from a transmitting bite. Shifters are born as they are, and their abilities awaken with puberty.

Shifters may be welcome in Werewolf Packs, and Werewolves may be welcome in Shifter Packs, but it’s really variable depending on the individuals involved. In modern times it’s much more common to have a mixed Pack. Mostly since nobody usually cares which you are just that your Other form is a wolf.

Functionally, you can’t even tell the difference unless you actually get to examine the mouth (Shifters lack the grooves in the eye teeth) or an x-ray of the skull (Shifters, again, would lack the glands that produce the transformative compound).

It’s considered very rude to ask. If a person volunteers the specifics of which they are, that’s their choice. Since, again, functionally they’re indistinguishable outside of an invasive or medical examination. Besides, 99% of the time nobody actually cares. You’re a human who can turn into a wolf and a hybrid form, the specifics of _how_ that came to be don’t really matter to the average person.

Honestly the only time it’s actually vital is in some medical cases as a Werewolf can get glandular infections that a Shifter wouldn’t be able to (again, lacking the equipment needed for that specific issue). It’s kinda like a sinus infection, requires medication and is wholly unpleasant but generally manageable and treatable. Some individuals are more prone to them than others. Typically headaches, toothaches, sinus pain, and/or jaw pain would be the point where the question might be asked.

Otherwise oral surgery such as repairing a broken jaw or shifting the positioning of the jaw would find that information vital, or other procedures in the skull. Mostly so they can avoid hurting the glands. Things like braces are a real pain because you gotta be careful how you shift stuff, too.

While it’s possible to de-gland a werewolf, it’s not overly commonly done. Most of the time it would be considered an elective procedure if the werewolf in question wants their glands removed. Sometimes it becomes necessary in the case of traumatic injury, infection, and/or illness.

The rarest is in offenders who have maliciously turned others. Aside from serving their sentence, they may be offered the option to reduce their punishment by agreeing to the removal of their glands. In extreme cases it may be deemed necessary for a violent offender to be de-glanded as a matter of safety because they are a danger to those around them. It’s exceedingly rare, but considered permissible in the most extreme cases since it doesn’t actually do anything except take away their ability to force unwilling people into being werewolves.

De-glanding doesn’t cause any adverse effect aside from the typical potential risks that accompany any kind of surgical procedure–and with the hybrid capabilities of modern medicine and magic those are ridiculously minimal. A werewolf will notice no changes from the removal of their glands, as the glands are strictly for the production of the transformative compound. They don’t impact ability to change or senses. The removal doesn’t impact their ability to defend themselves or others as needed, etc.

About 25% of werewolves are de-glanded. Of those, 94% opted to do so. 5% were in cases of medical necessity, and only about 1% were cases of malicious biters. Most of that 1% are malicious biters who opted for de-glanding to reduce their sentences.


End file.
